In the spring of 1989 education secretary Kenneth Baker asked Angela Rumbold (pictured), then a minister in the DES, to chair a Committee of Inquiry on 'the quality of the educational experience offered to 3 and 4 year olds'.

Rumbold (1932-2010) began her political career in 1974 as a local councillor in Kingston. She became an MP in 1982 and was a minister from 1985 to 1992. She held senior posts in Conservative Central Office and on a wide range of public bodies, but was never invited to join the cabinet, perhaps because she was too outspoken: she once described herself as 'rather rightwing and truculent' (The Guardian 21 June 2010).

John MacGregor became education secretary in July 1989, so it was to him that the ten members of the committee submitted their report on 27 September 1990.

In the British education system, the term 'early years' is generally taken to mean the age range 3 to 7 or 8, embracing both nursery and early primary education. This report deals with the nursery element of early years provision.